Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

October 2014

Oct 30, 2014

A western gray wolf has been documented roaming the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, for the first time in more than 70 years.

The wolf was photographed recently, but at the time of this post, as the news was breaking, the photograph had not been made public and the sighting had not been officially confirmed.

However, the Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday announced the sighting in a press release.

The wolf was wearing what seemed to be an inactive radio collar, and the animal is believed to have dispersed from a pack in the northern Rocky Mountains.

The last-known wolf in Grand Canyon National Park was killed in the 1940s.

The Center for Biological Diversity points out that this wolf is protected under the Endangered Species Act, and cautioned hunters and ranchers against trying to kill or harm the animal.

“I'm absolutely thrilled that a wolf managed to travel so far to reclaim the Grand Canyon as a home for wolves,” said Michael Robinson, a wolf advocate with the environmental group. “This wolf's journey starkly highlights the fact that wolf recovery is still in its infancy and that these important and magnificent animals continue to need Endangered Species Act protections.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to a sport by Reuters, is going to attempt to capture the wolf.

If the predator is from the northern Rockies, where wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s, it would have ranged hundreds of miles to reach the North Rim.

OR7, a young male seeking a mate, became the first known wolf in California since 1924. He has since returned to Oregon, where he found a mate and is now raising a family.

There was speculation that the wolf seen on the North Rim might have been a Mexican gray wolf, as opposed to a western gray wolf.

But those who have viewed the photograph have said the animal looked too large to be a Mexican gray wolf. The sighting comes as the Obama Administration is pushing to remove protections for western gray wolves.

Stated Kim Crumbo, conservation director for Grand Canyon Wildlands Council: “In the early 1900s over 30 wolves on the North Kaibab, including Grand Canyon National Park, were killed by government hunters. "The possibility that a determined wolf could make it to the Canyon region is cause for celebration, and we must insist that every effort be taken to protect this brave wanderer.”

A spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, according to Reuters, said the group decided to announce the sighting to make people aware of the wolf's presence, so it won’t be mistaken as a coyote and possibly shot.

Oct 28, 2014

Common dolphins love to race alongside fast-moving boats, swim beneath their bows and surf in their wakes.

They just can’t seem to get enough.

But apparently, there's much more to this phenomenon than initially meets the eye: Common dolphins, it turns out, also like to make babies during this fun time.

Jodi Frediani, a photographer based in Monterey, California, recently captured a series of unique images revealing the mammals sharing intimate relations while swimming beneath the Sea Wolf II, as it plowed across Monterey Bay.

A fitting title for her photographs, perhaps, could be "Unsafe sex."

“What I was wondering is, are they doing this throughout the pod, or just beneath the boat?” Frediani said. “Is there something about the slipstream that makes it easier to mate? Or is it just something about being beneath the boat that gets them excited?”

For those who have not spent much time on the ocean, common dolphins typically swim in large pods and are highly social. When they’re not busy feeding, they’ll often find the nearest boat and take turns bow-riding and wake-surfing.

At times, a passenger peering beneath the surface, depending on water conditions, might glimpse the white underside of a dolphin’s belly, and say, “Oh, look, that one is swimming upside-down.”

It’s only a fleeting glimpse, however, and most people fail to grasp what's happening.

“It happens so quickly,” said Frediani, adding that she was shooting from the upper deck of the Sea Wolf II, and enjoyed a better vantage point than the view afforded to passengers on the lower deck.

Oct 22, 2014

An 11-year-old Michigan hunter last week killed a rare albino deer while on a hunting trip with his father.

This week, the story is generating a wide range of emotional feedback on Facebook.

Gavin's father, Mick Dingman, told Livingston Daily that he and his son had spotted the white deer several times in recent years, and that other hunters had talked about trying to bag the animal.

An admittedly nervous Gavin used a crossbow from 30 yards to harvest the 12-point trophy buck, and the news quickly spread in hunting circles.

"He kind of feels like a rock star right now,” Mick Dingman said. “Everyone is calling, all of the hunting shows and hunting magazines.”

Sentiments being expressed on the WZZM 13 Facebook page, where the albino deer story has been shared more than 4,000 times, are somewhat mixed. (WZZM 13 is a Livingston Daily partner.)

“He should have let it live. There are plenty of others out there,” reads one of hundreds of comments.

“If it’s rare, why the hell would he kill it?" reads another.

“I’m fine with hunting, just hate the ‘Hey look, it’s different, let’s shoot it’ ideas. Shoot it with a camera and let the unique one live,” reads yet another.

Deer-hunting in Michigan is an extremely popular pastime, so it's not surprising that so many wrote in defense of Gavin Dingman.

“Get over it. The law says it’s legal. Back off the kid!!! Way to go kiddo!!” reads one comment.

“He paid good money for his license. He can use it for anything HE chooses, " reads another. "Whether it be a brown deer or an albino buck, the state of Michigan gave him permission to kill it. Leave the kid alone. He did nothing wrong. He harvested a great trophy.”

Some of the commenters criticized WZZM 13 for posting the story on Facebook, opening Gavin to criticism.

“WZZM should stick with reporting news, not trying to make an 11-year-old boy feel guilty for shooting a deer, during deer season,” reads one comment.

Albino deer and leucistic deer (not a true albino) possess genetic defects that cause the white pigmentation. Some native cultures revere the white animals, and believe that they possess the spirits of ancestors. This story brings to mind the killing last October of a rare albino “spirit moose” in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Three hunters involved in that expedition were harshly criticized on social media sites, and ultimately issued a formal apology to the Mi’kmaq people.

It’s unclear whether any native groups have spoken out against Gavin Dingman's killing of the white deer in Michigan.

The boy's description of his big moment: “My dad was just like, ‘Take a deep breath. Are you sure you can take the shot? If you’re not 100 percent, we don’t want to injure it.’ ”

The family plans to pay a taxidermist to create a full body mount of the deer. WZZM 13 cites a report that claims that one out of 20,000 deer are born albino.

Oct 21, 2014

Last week we featured an amazing photo sequence captured by a passenger aboard a whale-watching boat in Monterey Bay, California, showing a humpback whale breaching within 80 feet of another whale-watching boat.

Now we've obtained images captured from the boat closest to the whale, showing just how close the whale was to the 43-foot vessel, and its monumental splash.

Thomae said the humpback whale was a juvenile, measuring about 35 feet, but it was large enough and close enough to cause the boat to tilt sharply and rock amid so much displaced water.

“All the passengers were thrilled during this encounter,” Thomae said. “We always try out best to be respectful of the whales, but this whale approached us. It also breached within 80 feet of another boat about five minutes after the close encounter with the Sanctuary.

“We were thrilled and a little startled, but when we saw the whale was not pointing at us after it's rostrum first cleared the water, nobody was scared.

The boat didn't get wet, but water splashed very close to the boat.” Thomae described this particular whale as a “chronic breacher,” explaining that it had breached more than 50 times before this close encounter.

Humpback whales have been feeding in Monterey Bay for most of the summer and fall.

Oct 16, 2014

Massachusetts Capt. Dom Petrarca appears to have made history recently when his charter group teamed to land a 597-pound bluefin tuna … on spinning gear.

The catch occurred two days after Bobby Rice, another Cape Cod charter captain, logged the catch of a 423-pound bluefin … also on spinning gear.

Petrarca and Rice say these are the largest bluefin tuna ever landed on spinning gear, and so far they’ve received no argument.

The catches are remarkable because giant bluefin tuna, according to popular belief, simply are too powerful, and dive too swiftly and deeply, to be caught on anything but heavy conventional tackle.

Such tackle generally includes a large conventional reel, whose spool allows line to strip freely in a straight line toward the water, rather than perpendicularly from a spinning reel.

Heavy tackle also includes a stout rod and a harness. Anglers strap in, use their bodies for leverage, and sometimes place the rod against the rail of the boat for additional leverage.

This method has enabled the capture of bluefin weighing 1,000 pounds or more.

By comparison, even the heaviest spinning gear is considered light tackle, which Petrarca and Rice say makes the sport more challenging and fun.

“Five years ago, nobody would have even believed that you could catch a 200- or 300-pound tuna, let alone a 400- or 500-pound tuna,” said Petrarca, who runs Coastal Charters Sportfishing in Marshfield. “But we’re proving that with the right methods, you can.”

Nowadays, a handful of reel manufacturers are designing spinning reels more for use in big-game saltwater fishing. (The captains use Shimano reels, RonZ lures and Point Jude Deep Force jigs.)

423-pound bluefin tuna; photo via Reel Deal Fishing Charters

However, Petrarca and Rice say, despite significant technological advancements, spinning reels are limited. Their spools are too small and their drag systems aren’t able to stop the truly giant tuna from racing away with all the line.

But the captains are finding ways around the limitations.

They fish on smaller, faster boats that make chasing and keeping up with fleeing tuna possible. They target their tuna, using a variety of jigs, in reasonably shallow water. That makes it difficult for tuna to spool a reel merely by sounding toward the bottom.

Lastly, when a really big tuna is hooked, the captains make it a rule that everyone on board takes turns reeling, because one angler cannot handle the task alone with these lighter-tackle outfits. (Their anglers use flimsy, 8-foot rods, which would break if placed against the rail.)

“There is no way in the world that one angler could land a 400-pound tuna the way we fish,” Petrarca said. ”It’s that difficult. Our anglers get worn out, beat up, and spit out, and then they pass the rod off and wait their turn again.”

Petrarca said giant bluefin off Nova Scotia and in the Mediterranean are targeted in much deeper water, making the Cape Cod area somewhat unique, and perhaps the only place the big fish can be successfully landed on spinning gear.

“This is the only place in the world that this can be done,” Petrarca said.

When Rice and his Reel Deal Fishing Charters group landed the 423-pound tuna last Friday, the captain was ecstatic, because he claimed the catch as an unofficial spinning-gear world record.

“Yes, that just happened,” Rice wrote on the company Facebook page. “All eyes exuded an incredulous gaze at the luminosity and girth of the fish that was now being brought on board.”

On Sunday, Domenic Petrarca arrived at port with the 597-pound bluefin, landed after an intense hour-long fight. He wrote about his catch for On the Water. His description of the hookup:

“The first 20 minutes were spent with heavy throttle, an angler pinned to the combing bolsters along the rail, reeling like mad as we tried to get enough line back on the spool to handle the next run, as the fish went east, west, then back to east, all at a distance of three to four football fields away from us anytime it switched direction.”

Later in the report, the bringing of the bluefin to color: “Tugging on what felt like a runaway bus, we finally worked the beast into sight, and the true dimensions of this animal became clearly evident to all on board … this was a true stud of a fish, a real giant by anyone’s definition.”

Finally, it was subdued with ropes and towed to port, “setting another bar for the light-tackle crowd to shoot for.”

Oct 15, 2014

There have been plenty of “Wow!” moments for marine mammal enthusiasts this season in Monterey Bay, thanks to an abundance of voracious and active humpback whales off the Central California coast.

But what occurred in front of passengers aboard a Sanctuary Cruises boat Monday has to rank beyond a mere “Wow!” moment. They watched in awe as a large humpback breached so closely–only yards away–that it caused their boat to pitch.

“It definitely got rocked,” photographer Jodi Frediani, who on Wednesday provided the images that accompany this post, said of the close call.

Frediani, who was aboard the Point Sur Clipper out of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, could not say whether any of the passengers on the other boat got drenched, but recalled seeing nothing but open mouths after the 30-ton whale splashed down.

She assured that this was not a case of either boat being too close to the whale, but a case of the whale approaching both boats and surprising everyone by breaching directly between them.

“It was coming toward us, pointed right at us, and then it shifted direction before it breached right between us,” said Frediani, adding that she was shooting with a zoom lens and that the Point Sur Clipper was considerably farther from the whale than the Sanctuary Cruises boat.

Humpback whales have spent the past several months feeding in Monterey Bay, and breaches are fairly common. But this was a special whale, as far as the passengers and crews were concerned, because it was extremely active.

Frediani said it breached 60 times in the span of an hour, and also tail-lobbed, and slapped the water with its pectoral fins.

"We first saw it at 12:06 and at 1:06 it was still breaching,” the photographer said. “I was getting tired just trying to follow it with my camera.

Frediani said that because the whale had changed direction, as it approached the boats, she missed the very beginning of the breach in her sequence.

Oct 14, 2014

The most exotic season of saltwater fishing in modern times has featured catches of yellowfin tuna, wahoo, mahi-mahi, and many other subtropical species of game fish.

Now we can add blue marlin to the list.

Anthony Hsieh on Monday stated on Facebook that his crew aboard Bad Company caught a blue marlin at 8 a.m. between Santa Catalina Island and San Clemente Island.

“Strange fishing blue marlin in long pants,” Hsieh wrote, referring to the location of the catch: about 1,000 miles north of typical blue marlin range.

The billfish, caught after an 18-minute fight in 130-pound line, weighed 462 pounds.

It’s believed to the first local blue marlin catch of the summer/fall season–and the first in years.

Said Phil Friedman of PFORadio.com: “We’ve been waiting for this to happen all year. One was fought for four hours last month, but lost at the last minute. There have been a few others hooked. Finally someone has landed one.”

The tropical and subtropical fish species have been lured to Southern California by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures. A prolonged absence of westerly winds off Baja California and Southern California during the summer is credited for the spike in temperatures.

Oct 08, 2014

For the first time in SeaWorld’s history, an injured shark has been rescued, rehabilitated, and released back into the ocean.

About two weeks ago the 25-pound gray smooth-hound shark was discovered in San Diego’s Marina Village with a fishing lure in its mouth and with injuries caused by fishing line.

According to CBS 8 News, SeaWorld vets treated the shark’s wounds and managed to get it to swim like a healthy shark again.

They also determined that the shark, which they named “Marina,” was pregnant.

On Wednesday, Marina was taken to an area off the coast called Kelp Forest, and released.

"She kind of took a look around and said 'OK, I'm in the Kelp Forest,' took two little swims and said 'I'm heading down,' and that's exactly what we wanted her to do," Mike Price, Assistant Curator of Fishes at SeaWorld, told CBS 8 News.

Gray smooth-hound sharks are found along the California and Baja California coasts.

Oct 07, 2014

Amanda Brewer is an art teacher in New Jersey, who assures anyone who will listen that she possesses no great skill as a photographer.

But many aren’t convinced after seeing the vivid image Brewer captured recently from inside a shark-diving cage off South Africa, an image so stunning and life-like that it has taken the Internet by storm.

The image has been shared so widely, and discussed so passionately, she said, that she has had little time to concentrate on anything else.

"Just on my Instagram page alone it has received more than 350,000 likes," said Brewer, who teaches grades 1-5.

The image shows a great white shark looking as ferocious as a shark can look, with its jaws wide-open and fully extended, lunging after two fish heads tied to a rope.

On Facebook the image has been making the rounds on pages devoted to sharks and, especially, white sharks.

There it has drawn praise, but also criticism from folks who do not know the back story, and who claim that the use of bait so close to a metal cage is dangerous for lunging sharks.

Brewer, as pointed out in a story posted this week by Time Lightbox, was in South Africa volunteering with the eco-tourism and research group, White Shark Africa.

She told GrindTv that as a summer intern she was helping to collect scientific data, jotting down everything she could about individual sharks, including unique markings (for ID purposes) and behavior. She also was on board to interact with tourists, to ease their concerns about cage-diving with apex predators.

She confessed that she did not even own a camera before she purchased a GoPro just days before her trip.

It was on a down day that she was able to dive in the cage without having to concentrate on work. She wore a mask but no scuba gear, as the cage was only partially submerged.

Visibility was poor, but she kept her head at or close to sea-level, occasionally looking down.

Suddenly, she said, the shark “came out of nowhere and just kind of lunged out of the water, and I just happened to have had my GoPro in the exact right place at the exact right time. It really was just luck.”

She had the burst setting turned on, and captured 30 quick images. She had no idea what was in those images, though, because with a GoPro it’s hard to check. “There’s no screen or anything,” Brewer said.

Back at the White Shark Africa office, she uploaded the photos to her iPad. Of the 30 images, only the one stood out.

As the image began to go viral, Brewer tried to respond to complaints about the use of bait so close to the cages.

An example of the complaints was this from Ricardo Lacombe, on the White Shark Interest Group page: “Bait usage is fine in my book as an attractant, but dragging it at the cage like this is asking for trouble for the shark. So disappointed this shot is getting so much coverage... but a chance to try and educate people I guess.”

Some criticized the use of bait altogether, but most shark-diving companies around the world rely on some sort of baiting or chumming system.

Brewer explained during the interview that the sharks are lured toward cages by White Shark Africa so they can be observed for the benefit of tourists, but also scientists trying to find unique markings, etc., that are found on individual sharks. Bait is never pulled into or even directly toward cages.

“The person was pulling the bait around and out of the way of the cage [to Brewer's right] so that shark wouldn’t go near the cage at all,” Brewer said. “That’s one thing that we learned right off the bat, is that you never want the shark to make contact with the cage.

"And you also don’t want the shark to eat the bait. You don’t feed the sharks; that’s not what we want to do.”

She explained further that the fish-eye lens made it seem as though the shark was closer than it might appear; it did the same with the bait. "The fish-eye lens did me in," Brewer joked.

The shark, she said, was about three feet from the cage when the photo was taken. It veered off, around the cage, where the bait was being pulled.

Regardless of people's sentiments regarding the bait issue, nobody is denying the stunning quality of her image.

Stated Brewer to the White Shark Interest Group: “I’ve been on social media nonstop with the help of my White Shark Africa friends, working to praise those who received the photo in a respectful way and correct those who received in a "kill the sharks!" kind of way.

“This photo has gotten so much recognition and most has been incredibly positive. Now, people are talking about the sharks. Now we educate. That's how you make a difference. If nothing else, we've gotten a few more shark warriors on board and we've explained our case to a few people who only two days ago didn't care about it at all.”

Oct 06, 2014

Of all the rare catches and encounters off Southern California during the past several months, the showing Monday of as many as 50 sperm whales has to rank as the rarest–and certainly the most exciting.

The initial sighting of perhaps 12 of these iconic mammals was made at 11 a.m. by Larry Hartmann aboard the Ocean Explorer, which runs out of Newport Beach.

Hartmann was searching for a small humpback whale that had been frequenting an area two miles off Laguna Beach when he spotted a series of unusual blows in the distance.

Sperm whales socializing; photo by Slater Moore Photography

“At first I thought they might be more humpbacks, but as I got closer I could tell by their blows that they were sperm whales,” said Hartmann, who also runs Captain Larry Adventures in Dana Point.

When he arrived alongside the whales, they were socializing with one another at the surface.

“They never went down,” Hartmann said. “They were playing with each other, and slapping their tails. It was amazing.”

Sperm whale rolls on its side; photo by Slater Moore Photography

Once Hartmann let on about the sighting, other whale-watching boats flocked to the area with GoPros and even drones, and promised exciting footage to local media. (See drone video atop this post.)

That was when other pods were discovered, bringing the number of sperm whales to perhaps 50.

At 2:30 p.m., Gisele Anderson of Captain Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari, said she was watching two groups of 10 to 12 sperm whales, but could see another two groups not far in the distance.

"A mother and calf just raised their heads and spy-hopped right near us," Anderson said, adding that about seven boats were in the vicinity.

Sperm whale sightings are extremely rare in coastal waters off Southern California, and sporadic sightings over the years have mostly involved single males or two males, feeding together.

Larger groups typically involve a mother, or mothers, and their young.

Sperm whale throws a fluke and reveals that the mammals are finding plenty of food; photo by Slater Moore Photography

According to the latest estimates by NOAA, the minimum population of sperm whales off California, Oregon, and Washington is about 750 animals, which spend most of their time feeding so far offshore that they’re rarely seen.

NOAA on Monday said it would ask the Coast Guard to issue a notice to mariners, advising them to navigate carefully off Southern California, in case these whales stick around.

Jay Barlow, a sperm whale expert with NOAA, said that he knew of only one other instance where a very large group of sperm whales passed between Santa Catalina Island and the mainland.While this is an extraordinary event, the entire summer off Southern California has been peculiar, in terms of visits by aquatic species of fish or mammals that typically are found elsewhere.